Just as Jesus’ Word tells us to “Go ye into all the world to preach the Gospel,” we developed our Agricultural Training Center (ATC) to also “Go ye…,” reaching out to the far corners of Haiti to teach the word of “farming God’s way,” sharing the good news of sustainable farming methods for development into self-reliance. However, since we do not have the staff nor resources to “go ye” out into the “regions beyond,” we had to design our Agricultural Training Center to be a regional center for demonstration gardens and training courses so that Haitians could come to our resource to see the new methods in practice and see the results and hopefully become interested in how they too could achieve reliable results back home.

We suspected that many Haitians would be resistant to adopting new methods, having been taught generation after generation how they “have always done it, so we purposefully set our ATC up as a demonstration area, hoping that after seeing our improved yields and reliable harvests, some would come and ask, “How are you doing that?”

We also developed two training courses: a 2-year in-depth course for local people to come on Thursdays and Fridays to learn and gain practical experience, and a 3-week residential training course where students would come to live with us at our ATC for three weeks to learn by doing and living in the immersion of new ideas in our model at the ATC.

Teaching by demonstration, along with the two training courses, has been transforming many lives with new knowledge, skills, and confidence, improving lives for generations to come from sustainable gardening methods.

When you support our “Development for Sustainability” programs, you are helping Haitians learn to help themselves and improve their lives for the long term. Your support is “going forth,” providing long-lasting help for Haitian families.

Thank you,
Rad Hazelip, Assistant Executive Director